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Friday, March 21, 2008 Writer: Philip Lee Williams, 706/542-8501, phil@franklin.uga.edu James E. Coverdill, professor of sociology, receives Meigs Award for Excellence in Teaching Athens, Ga. – When students come into the classroom of James E. Coverdill (below) in sociology, they notice it immediately—what one former student calls his “extraordinary intellect and trademark enthusiasm.” Others are even less restrained in their praise of this much-honored teacher and scholar who has been at UGA since 1991. His classes were “the highlight of my academic career,” one former student says, while another is even more effusive: “Dr. Coverdill is the single greatest teacher I have ever known.” Such high praise occurs again and again in evaluations of Coverdill, who in addition to being an associate professor of sociology is an adjunct associate professor of women’s studies at UGA and an adjunct associate professor of surgery at the Medical College of Georgia.
Indeed, Coverdill’s scholarship has drawn national attention in his areas of expertise: work, organizations and research methods. He is the author of numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals and co-authored with Finlay the book Headhunters: Matchmaking in the Labor Market, which was published in 2002. His accomplishments in teaching as part of UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences are also exceptional. He has been the recipient of a Lilly Teaching Fellowship, a Special Sandy Beaver Excellence in Teaching Award, the Richard B. Russell Award for Undergraduate Teaching and the General Sandy Beaver Teaching Professorship. Since 1999, he has also been an instructor in the Globis Study Abroad Program in Verona, Italy, as well, and has thus been closely identified in his department with the internationalization of education. Students again and again note that Coverdill’s teaching goes far beyond the normal and the routine, said Finlay. “For him, teaching is not an activity that is confined to a particular class or a particular time,” he said. “He is always willing to share his knowledge with others, whether they are colleagues, students or former students.” Still, it is in the classroom that his talents may shine most brightly. Many of his students and fellow faculty members note Coverdill’s “exceptional ability to make difficult material comprehensible without sacrificing rigor or complexity,” in Finlay’s words. “His lectures, which are a tour de force of exposition, make the process of teaching and explaining seem far simpler than they actually are.” One former graduate student, now an assistant professor at another university, also notes how Coverdill’s teaching and mentoring routinely prepare doctoral students for their own careers. “He is charismatic, engaging and compassionate,” she writes, “a professor that goes beyond the requirements for his student’s instruction . . . What impressed me the most was his sincere interest and enthusiasm in student learning and the obvious enthusiasm he takes in his work . . . Dr. Coverdill has served as a tremendous role model and inspiration for me, and I believe I am a better teacher because of him.”
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“Dr. Coverdill has demonstrated exceptional skills in the classroom and an unflagging dedication to the principles of higher education,” says William Finlay, head of the department of sociology. “He is the highest-rated instructor in a department with many award-winning teachers, while teaching more students than any other faculty member in the department. Jim Coverdill epitomizes the ideal of the teacher-scholar.”
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